Committee of the Peoples Charter (CPC) is a non-partisan political, economic, social and democratic accountability movement founded in 2011 in pursuit of the realization of the societal objectives enunciated by the Zimbabwe People’s Charter adopted at the Peoples Convention on 9 February 2008 in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Wednesday, 27 May 2015

By-Elections and Abuse of the Zimbabwean Constitution by Political Parties

Position Paper 1

Issued 27 May 2015

1. The Committee
of the Peoples Charter (CPC) has noted with great misgiving the development of
a culture of abusing Section 129 (1k) of the new constitution as it relates to
by-elections for Members of Parliament. This section states that the seat
of a Member of Parliament may become vacant if;

“ the Member has ceased
to belong to the political party of which he or she was a member when elected
to Parliament and the political party concerned, by written notice to the
Speaker or the President of the Senate, as the case may be, has declared that
the member has ceased to do so’

It is this section that
has occasioned at least 19 constituency by-elections in Zimbabwe thus far into
the tenure of this current Parliament.

1.2 While the CPC holds
no brief for political parties it is important that given the context of
political party factionalism in both opposition and ruling parties be these
unfortunate political developments be placed and analysed through social
democratic lenses and national context.

In a constituency based
and largely ‘first past the post’ system such as ours ‘by-elections’ are
democratic processes that would usually occur in the event of the resignation
or death of a sitting Member of Parliament.

1.3 In terms of the
same Section 129 of the new constitution, by-elections can also occur where a
sitting Member of Parliament:

üceases
to be a registered voter,

üis
absent without leave for 21 consecutive days from either house

übecomes
president or vice president of the country;

übecomes
a Speaker or President of the National Assembly and Senate respectively

üis
convicted of a criminal offence

üis
declared insolvent

ütakes
up other public office roles (parastatals, provincial councils)

1.4 Some of these
provisions have been used sparingly in the current tenure of the current
Parliament. Examples include the passing away of members of Parliament,
the appointment of one Member of Parliament to the post of vice president and
the removal of another from the same post after the 2013 harmonised general
election.

They have however been
utilized with at an alarmingly disproportionate rate to the above cited
examples where and when it applies with subsection (k) in relation to political
parties writing letters to the speaker or president of the senate.

It is a development
that has led to the holding of at least 19 by elections for constituency
members of the National Assembly and the Senate. It has also affected
proportional representation members of both houses.

1.5 The CPC views these
developments as cases of abuse of the constitution by political parties that
are still represented in Parliament. At an estimated cost of US$36
million as given by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), these by-elections
are not only an unnecessary drain on meagre resources that the country does not
have but are an inherent abuse of state resources to essentially settle
internal and personal scores as they derive from leaders of political
parties.

1.6 These resources can
and could have been used to refurbish dilapidated public infrastructure,
provide desperately needed medicines or at the very least contributed to
the payment of the Basic Education Assistance Model (BEAM) deficits that are
affecting disadvantaged school children.

1.7 Furthermore, the
lack of absolute necessity of these elections caused by factionalism in
political parties has essentially led to the country being in perpetual
election mode for parliamentary seats that do not affect the nature or effect
of executive authority in Zimbabwe.

This is to say, they have no direct bearing
or cliff-hanger effect on the composition of Parliament or the structure of
government. They serve more to reconfigure internal party politics than
the public democratic interest.

1.8 For political
parties to continue to subject voters to elections that are not based on
democratic principles but a positivist reading of the law to serve their
internal problems point to the sad reality that political party constitutions
and internal processes are what really matter in Parliament. This as
opposed to the functions of the legislature as outlined in Chapter 6 (Part 6)
of the constitution.

1.9 While all
Zimbabweans have the right to associate and vote for leaders of their choice,
it would be a sad day for the future of our continually struggling democracy
if political parties treated the people and the electorate as canon-
fodder every time internal party disputes arise.

2.0 It is therefore the
firm view of the CPC that while these by-elections may be permissible at law,
they are however evidence of an undemocratic culture of entitlement by
political parties, especially where this is done through attempting to solve
internal party disputes via national institutions and processes at great
economic and democratic cost to the country.